Sorry for not any updates of late...I changed my mind on a few things so the build sort of went off the rails a bit. But this update should wrap up this build. By the way you will see the airboat built up at a later point. Already found a 1/24 engine to use...prop blades...etc. They may become my Floats build. Since this is the final update, here's the build's background story.
The world had gone to crap.
Lara had been shocked to see her father show up at her house. They had not spoken in years, yet she was overjoyed. It was more for Megan than herself. They were almost out of food and the social situation had continued to deteriorate. She was scared but when she saw her dad pull up...she knew they had a chance.
The old man had come to get his daughter and grand daughter, and take them to the family's cabin. John Russell was a survivalist, and it annoyed her that his preparedness, which she hated, would be their salvation. He was that crazy old man with his 'prepper' guides. Worse, he discovered social media.
Their two day drive turned into a week long hike after the truck broke down. They had seen things, humanity at its worst. But they were close. Lara was glad. The time had allowed her to reconnect with her father and allow Megan to get to know him. If something happened to her, she knew her father would take care of his grand daughter.
Megan was tired and her feet hurt. She missed her home, her room, and her friends. It had become pretty apparent about how bad things were. Their time on the road...she has seen things. Her mom and grandpa had shielded her, but she wasn't stupid. She had seen him shoot two people.
Her grandfather was mostly a mystery to her. She knew he was in the military and had wrote a bunch of books, even had a YouTube channel. She had never seen it, she didn't know the channel's name. She tugged at the gun's strap. It was heavy and she really had no idea how to use it. However having it made her feel better.
Her mom and him had not spoken in years and she didn't know why. It was something about his divorce with grandma. The last time Megan had seen him was actually at her grandma's funeral. But he had traveled a ways to come get them. She was glad. Walking wasn't fun and she was scared alot. He had gotten them this far. Megan just wanted to sleep and feel safe.
John scanned the road ahead looking for fresh tracks. So far there were not alot of signs of any traffic down the road since he had left. The fallen logs were still in place and that was encouraging. The cabin was way out the way.
This isn't how he wanted to reconnect with his daughter and grand daughter. He glanced back at the girls. He hated losing the truck. It would have made the trip back quicker and a lot safer. The cabin was safe. He had years worth of food stashed away, ample clean water, and ample fish and game.
So I started on the base. I was going to go with the trio making their way to the family cabin, stopping along the way at a small mom & pop convenience store. The truck was theirs and they were looting what they could before continuing. I went ahead and cut the store front, double layer of foam core board, and textured it as stucco.
I decided against that because of diorama size and it would involve using a finished model. No big deal.
So the base changed to them arriving at the cabin...dropped that one pretty quick. Then I went with a prepper bunker. Layered up the styrofoam, cut in out into the doors. Slapped some Celluclay on it. And then I changed my mind again. I thought it needed too much explaining. Celluclay was still damp so I scraped it off.
So the next idea was the trio back to walking. I cut down the bunker to be a gravel road over a small stream. One of the reasons to cut it down was to lower the height. It also allowed me to have a wider roadway.
I gave the styrofoam a coat of Modge Podge and then painted it with black acrylic. I added "concrete" sidewalls made from foam core board. I gave these a coat of Modge Podge mixed with fine sand to protect the foam and give it a round unfinished concrete look and texture.
The roadbed/bridge support is just a section of styrofoam with basswood strips.I painted these with the Modge Podge/sand mix as well.
Better. The road is wide enough. But there's still something....
I cut the base down a bit. No more big changes..I'm all in on this design. Celluclay the roadbed...cut out a few places to be puddles. I wish I had made them more worn and rutted but...like I said...no more big changes.
So now the stream. I had this idea of taking some clear plastic, cut that as the water, and texture it with some Acrylic Gesso. The thick plastic gives the water a bit of depth. The Gesso was dried up...which I now know you can revitalize with some water. Not knowing that at that time, I went with Modge Podge after I tested it on a piece of scrap clear plastic. Looks like a rippling water to me.
I was going to use real fine sand for the dirt under the bridge and the stream bed. Instead, I just painted it tan. I added a 1/25 tire because people can be sorry and litter. Planned on added more garbage but dropped that idea.
I cut out the "stream" and gave it a thick coat of Modge Podge. I did two coats with a really coarse brush so the ripples stood out. Dried, I put it in place and added a bit of CelluClay over the edges to hold it in place.
Real pebbles were added. Given these are literally sitting atop the clear plastic, I dabbed a little dark grey/dark brown where each pebble was put to replicate a shadow and mask that the pebbles don't look like they are "floating".
I decided to add some sand to the roadbed to try to replicate gravel. It really wasn't a good idea...too heavy looking and much of it dried darker than I wanted. The CellUClay actually looked better. Instead of redoing the roadbed, I decided to give it a heavy coat of Modge Podge to tone down the texture, and then then paint it grey. Added several washes of brown, grey, black, and green.
Added some more pebbles, lining part of the banks with them. Added more Celluclay and sculpted it to look washed out. The tire got moved up to the road.The railing is made from wood strips I had. Added tufts of grass. I use cheapo dollar store paint brushes. They are cheap and there's more bristles on one brush than in a pack of Woodlands static grass. Also, when you cut the metal band off the bristles are actually glued together at the base. You just cut off what you need.
The trees are clippings from out in the yard. The other ground cover are a mix of ground up leaves. Scattered the ground up leaves on the roadbed just to blend it some more...as well as make it look like there hasn't been alot of traffic through there.
Grandpa was kept pretty simple. I did change out the wheels on his pull cart. I added an extra water bottle and pocket. Add an axe. And added an extra rolled up tarp. I gave him an AK47 with dental floss strap, changing its position. I have him holding some old Tamiya binos...I think they look like modern compact binos. Its strap is made from a black piece of twine.
I did have to change the hand pulling the cart. I sawed it off and turned it so the cart sat with both wheels on the ground.
Megan aka Little Miss aka the granddaughter, had alot done to her. The actual figure is molded wearing short shorts. I added a couple of layers of wood glue to make her look like she is wearing jeans. Wood glue gets tacky and dries quicker than regular white glue. When it's tacky you can work with it a bit.
I gave her a shotgun that had been cut down to a pistol grip. I cut down the barrel and gave it a sling. I put it over her shoulder as opposed to her holding it. I didn't care for her pointing towards her mom. If she didn't have a shotgun shell bandoleer I would not have armed her. I gave her a water bottle...not sure the source...it was in the spares. It looks like those sporty water bottles.
Lara aka Mom aka Daughter...she comes with a baby. Nope not putting a baby in this diorama. Baby will be used in something else. Lara got a backpack to fill that baby-less spot on her back...from Dragon's NVA figure set. I gave her a pistol. She got a pump shotgun with a sling. Her canteen is actually a sanded done WW2 German big water bottle from their German Equipment Set.
And here they all stand...basically how they will sit on the base.
And now figures added. Each figure has a hole in their grounded foot with a piece of wire fitted. PVA glue was used to glue them to the road surface.
And there's she done and done. Loved the build. Learned a few things through trial and error. In hindsight, I would have liked to of had the road cut into a hill side to give it a background. But that would negate the stream and bridge. The water thing worked really well and you'll probably see that used a bit. I do want to try it with Gesso and Acrylic Media to see if it works better...both are thicker and might make more aggressive waves.
I'll give it a few days before uploading some of the finished pics in the GB gallery.